Tri-State school district addressing drop in test scores

A local school district is looking at ways to improve after the Illinois report card showed a drop in math and reading scores.

Brown County Superintendent Vicki Phillips said the district is aware of the drop in scores, and it's working on a way to fix the problem. That includes the recent hiring of a math specialist and giving students assistance during their homerooms with practice tests.

The biggest drop is in the district's reading scores.

The report card shows the percentage of students at Brown County who met the ACT benchmark in reading was down from 61.1 percent in 2016 to 37.1 percent in 2017.

Math percentages also dropped from 36.1 percent in 2016 to 20 percent in 2017.

The district did see an improvement in the ACT assessment for 2017.

The ACT assessment in reading for Brown County's graduating class of 2017 was 21.2 in 2017 compared to 22.2 in 2016. In mathematics, the district was at 19.7 in 2016 and 2017.